So I was wondering if anyone had tried having 2 light cycles per day, with the lights on for a short time in the morning (~2-3hours) and a somewhat longer time in the evening(7-8hours). I started teaching and the long hours are severely limiting my time with my tank lights on, and an extra hour in the morning while I eat breakfast would rock! I would be shooting for

I have no clue if this would be healthy for my corals, I am sure it would mess with my fish a bit at first but I imagine it wouldnt be horrible long run. I figured I would see if anyone know anything about this before going about it though!

Never heard of it, but I would be worried what it would do to the health of the fish/corals. Most animals subject to sunlight have evolved around their exposure to sunlight, and it just seems like 2 cycles within 24-hours would cause problems. If you give it a try, I'd love to hear the results!

I have not tried it. FW planted tank people have been doing this for years, supposedly to reduce algae growth.

I think you should try it if there is some benefit to you in doing so. It isn't like there will be total darkness during the midday break, so I don't think circadian rhythm issues are a big worry. Besides, we humans all mess up our sleeping patterns with artificial lighting, and none of us are going nuts ,

It's sort of like making cloud cover or replicating rainy days. I don't think it hurts much and it keeps the algae growth in check. Most programmable LED setups are going with these types of schedule options so in my opinion "Why not"? Let us know how it works out.

I think I will give it a shot over the upcoming holiday break so I can keep a closer eye on the tank during the changes and see how it progresses, could be interesting if it works well since I think quite a few of us would like to see our tanks in the morning before leaving!